The US has been forced to
broadcast radio messages warning the people of Afghanistan not to confuse
food parcels with cluster bombs that are also being dropped over parts
of the country.

In an embarrassing admission of the
danger posed by such weapons, the US has warned that from a distance the
two items could be mistaken – both are roughly the same size and both are
bright yellow

"Attention, noble Afghan people,"
starts the message broadcast in both Pashto and Dari. "As you know, the
coalition countries have been air dropping daily humanitarian rations for
you. The food ration is enclosed in yellow plastic bags. They come in the
shape of rectangular or long squares. The food inside the bags is halal
and very nutritional.

"In areas away from where food has
been dropped, cluster bombs will also be dropped. The colour of these bombs
is also yellow. All bombs will explode when they hit the ground, but in
some special circumstances some of the bombs will not explode."

A Pentagon spokesman yesterday confirmed
that the broadcasts were being carried out but denied there was any embarrassment
to the US. "We have never had to bomb and drop food at the same time in
such close proximity," he said. "We are trying to alleviate any possible
mistakes."

Cluster bombs are canisters which
break open on impact with the ground to scatter, smaller so-called "bomblets".
It is estimated that these bomblets have a dud rate of about 5 per cent
and can lie buried "live" in the ground for years until something detonates
them. They have been condemned by various humanitarian organisations for
the indiscriminate way they can injure civilians.

The United Nations has already expressed
concerns about using the weapons in Afghanistan. Last night, a spokesman
for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said: "The food drops are not
the most efficient way of delivering food. None the less, in a situation
where there is no food coming in, you cannot be too choosy. We have urged
that any military action should take into account the civilian population
and that it should be as least harmful as possible to this population."

While Britain has not dropped cluster
bombs in Afghanistan, its position on their use is no different to that
of the US. The Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon, yesterday told
the Commons that they had been used in Afghanistan on a "limited number
of occasions against the particular military threat of armoured vehicles".

Responding to a call from the Labour
MP Ann Clwyd to pressurise the Americans to stop using the bombs, Mr Hoon
added: "They are not used against the civilian populations and the number
of circumstances in which they have been used in Afghanistan has been extremely
limited. They are not, either, in any way comparable with land mines."

Ms Clwyd later said: "It is known
very well that cluster bombs are, unfortunately, anti-personnel mines as
well. They can destroy innocent civilians in much the same way as land
mines."

The radio message is being broadcast
by the US using specially designed EC-130E Commando Solo planes bristling
with electronic equipment to broadcast messages as well as jam other transmissions.
It informs the Afghan population: "In future cluster bombs will not be
dropped in areas where food is air dropped.

"However, we do not wish to see an
innocent civilian mistake the bombs for food bags and take one away believing
that it might contain food. We would like you to take extra care and not
to touch yellow-coloured objects."